Trump’s Medicare pick Dr. Oz once said uninsured have no ‘right to health’
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The TV personality has repeatedly peddled dubious medical claims. Mehmet Oz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, once said the uninsured “don’t have a right to health.”. He added that the uninsured don’t have a right to health, only the right to access a chance at health.
“You can screen thousands of people for almost nothing, and can you allow a conversation to take place in more of a festival-like setting,” Oz said. “It is not scary … a lot don’t have insurance. Give them a way of crawling pack out of the abyss of darkness of fear over not having the health they need and give them an opportunity.
“Because they don’t have the right to health, but they have the right to access a chance to get that health,” he added. Oz has a history of peddling baseless medical claims, including falsely claiming the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment for COVID-19.
Oz is just one of many TV personalities to be a part of Trump’s potential cabinet. Other picks include former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, who was tapped to lead the Department of Defense, and Fox News contributor Sean Duffy, who was nominated to head the Department of Transportation.
In his nomination announcement, Trump vowed Oz will “cut waste and fraud” within the agency. “Our broken Healthcare System harms everyday Americans, and crushes our Country’s budget. Dr Oz will be a leader in incentivizing Disease Prevention, so we get the best results in the World for every dollar we spend on Healthcare in our Great Country,” Trump said in his statement.
